British born of Italian parents, Roy Salvadori started racing in 1947 and graduated to Formula One, making his debut in 1952 and competing regularly until 1962 for a succession of teams including Cooper, Vanwall, BRM, Aston Martin and Connaught. He also excelled in other formula, and in 1959 - with co-driver Caroll Shelby - won Le Mans for Aston Martin.

In 47 F1 starts he managed only one podium, a third at the 1958 British Grand Prix, but he won non-championship races in Australia, New Zealand and England. In 1961 he was lying in second place at the US Grand Prix when his Cooper suffered an engine failure.

At the end of 1962 he retired from F1 and stopped racing completely a couple of years later to concentrate on motor trading. He returned to the sport in 1966 to spend two years as manager of the Cooper-Maserati squad, and eventually retired to Monaco.